A Hero Reforged
by Padraig Gail
Summary: X wakes up,confused, low on power, and in the middle of a fire fight. Will he find out where he comes from? Will he know who woke him? Will he survive long enough to ask?
1. Mission: 00

Disclaimer: I in no way, claim ownership, nor have I ever or will ever do so. All characters belong to Capcom, except the ones I make.. So if you thinking of suing me over this, follow these three easy steps.

1: make the back of your hand extremely visible to yourself.

2: clench that hand into a fist.

3: extend the finger next to your index, as high as it can go.

repeat steps with other hand.

Warning: I may conflict with the story of the games a little, but I do it in favor of a continuous storyline, and if there is an "official manga" or something, don't bitch at me about it, okay? This is a "STORY" don't read it if you don't wanto

X: A Hero Reforged

Test Power Fluctuation FFFFFFFF--FFF0

RETURN True

Test of AI-0003 Complete.

Test overall completion, Succeed, (98)

Begin Revival Sequence

...

Error, Damaged Personality File, cannot compute.

Proceeding with Base System install...

Install complete.

Booting System "".

Clearence code not valid: Access denied.

Clearence code not valid: Access denied.

Clearence code not valid: Access denied.

Running, BruteEnforcer Code Breaker...

RETURN ("MissRoll4Ever")

Clearence code...valid: Access Granted.

Booting of System fully accessed.

Meanwhile...

"I don't like it here, Doctor. The risk factor is above the maximum allowed in my security algorithms." I said, just as an plasma burst passed right by my head. Access Trajectory Data Analysis Program 3.41...

Done

I began seeing the trajectories, and dodging them. I ducked into the ditch that Dr. Cain was digging, nearly landing on him. "Now tell me why you won't outfit me with a weapon's Module, Doctor?" "Because your chasy couldn't handle the additional stress Deca. I told you. Now help me dig, before we get killed. I need this console for my computer system, so that I can even make a defense grid!" The older doctor yelled, using his cane to dig with. I knew I should have at least brought a blaster for him to use, even if he had forbidden me to use one.

The plasma shots continued to zoom by as we tried to invent speed Archeology. I dug considerably faster than the Cain, but I was hitting a very hard substance before I could get to the base power system of the console. I continued around what my projection software said would be a rough cylinder shape, and dug into the wall, finding the base power unit, with a console that was still running an active program. "Doctor look at this!"

Cain stopped digging around the top of the apparent capsule, finding nothing but dirt. He came over and punched a few keys, after a moment of hesitation. A screen came up, displaying hundreds of lines of code, still running. I continued excavating the rest of the console, and found a hard drive module, with massive storage capacity. Archeology Placer: Technology Date ("2000-2065")

I gasped as the awe ran through my circuits. "This hardrive has over 2 Tetrabytes!" I said, just as I heard a plasma gun charge behind me. My AI software overrode Dr. Cain's command, and I nearly burned out my servo's as I moved with lightning speed, and whipped back to the Maverick that I had his position, and as predicted, he was aiming at Dr. Cain, him being a primary target. I reached up and moved his arm to the right, his left. This changed the trajectory of the blaster he was holding, even though I did not have time to prevent the blaster from fireing. I used my overpowered strength and ripped off the arm, and used the blaster still in its disembodied hand to put a blast right through it's singular ocular sensor. I ducked as another blast came at me. I pulled the Maverick down and turned the lifeless body into a barracade. I ripped out the power pack. It was an older model, but I could still interface with it. It's superior armor now was my strength. I pulled the blaster from the hand and held it according to my Basic Combat program instructions deigned, barrel up, next to the same shoulder that my hand held it in. My commands were having a runtime error as I tried to keep a hold of the large, near rifle size, hand gun, and I ended up droping it as I tried to continue to violate Dr. Cain's prior command. I held my left arm as I tried to re-establish control over it, as it tried to shut-down, to prevent the power struggle. "Doctor, enable my combat program! Please! I'm unable to protect you!" I yelled, as I began to shut down.

Cain was still working on the council, having not even moved, even though the blast had punctured the corner of the hard-drive. As he worked, he spoke in command code, which I could only accept from his voice code, "Halt Shut Down Sequence. Restore system rules to state before Basic Laws override." The console beeped even faster as he focused intently on the console. I felt my systems come under control, but I did not try for the blaster. I held my barracade, and picked up the severred arm. He didn't order me to not use _any_ weapon, only blasters.

I saw the capsule window, still fogged over with dirt, depressurize. It moved, plowing through the earth I had not dug. Inside was a blue reploid, that I could not understand why, but he looked familiar.

Booting...

Running Spacial Detection program.

Running Battle Enforcement program.

Running Weapon Power Management program.

Booting Emotion system. Unavailable...

Booting S.O.U.L. system. Success.

Booting Motion and Movement Powe managment programming.

Run Programs...

My eyes openned. I recognized a human standing over me. My system's detected 23 power scorces around me, with similar frequencies to my own, and 23 active weapons. My power was low. My vocal circuits said in the default computer voice, "Enter tactical situation." I immediately derived it myself, and turned off the system defualts, so I would never speak with instantly annoying voice again. I got up, and converted my arm to Buster-Mode. "What's going on?" The old human just stood silent, as did the Reploid holding up the junked body with her back, looking to be struggling. I saw the power module in her left hand. My systems recognized it as radically advanced, but still compatibal with my system. I crawled over and took it from ther hand. She didn't even react.

I openned my chest plate, and turned on my back up batteries. I removed my dead powercell and put the new one in. It read as being only half charged, but it was nearly double my usual charge. I liked it, since it wasn't overloading my systems. I charged my buster. "Tell me the make and model of the Android presence, Reploid, or I'll junk you myself!" I screamed, now that I had even less time to prevent our mutual destruction. "There is no android presence, you obsolete peice of scrap! They're reploids, highly modified construction models armed with those." She pointed with her left hand at the blaster on the ground.

My buster didn't have a pattern to construct into a projectile. I knew I needed one, but not why. I also didn't know why I reached down and scanned the handheld weapon. I found I could reproduce the energy required for it to fire rounds in massive quantities. "What are you doing?" The female model reploid asked, stressing the need for action. I jumped up over her and her sheild, and blasted the reploid through the heart. I proceeded. I ran, dodging the shots. I focused a little, and set my buster, for a moment, to overload. I threw a charged shot as a group tried to overwhelm me, in a straight line, shooting through eachother's arms. The blast turned them into slag.

I jumped over a felled wall, and caught them trying to mount assault. They became slag as I wove a web of destruction. through the destroyed urban center. I didn't know where I was, or even who I was, but I knew my purpose; I was meant to protect, and I'd become slag before I abandonned that.

I cleared the area of the Reploid force, and piled them in a junk pile near my capsule. "It's save now." The entire battle had taken ten minutes, cleanup included. These 'bots had no combat skill at all. The reploid came up, carrying the human with her. She looked at the pile when she was done, and I saw the look of surprise cross her features. I looked right at her, and said, "Who's obsolete again?" Her expression, changed to a nuetral almost immediately as I said that, and she stood in front of the human. "Are you a Maverick?"

Search: "Maverick"

RETURN: "A term often used to describe pilot's or rogues."

"I'm really not that much of a pilot, but I can fly a thing or two. Why?" The human pushed the reploid aside. "My name is Dr. Cain, and this is Deca, my bodyguard and assistant. What's your model, and your name if you don't mind."

Search: Name, Model #

RETURN: ...

Error: Information corrupted or unavailable.

"I...I don't know." I told him, as a slight chill took my circuits. "That information must have been destroyed by the blaster." Dr cain said, then hit Deca in the head. "Compile _all_ of the information before you fight!" Deca didn't react, because she was pretty solid, for a female type. Cain looked at me again and said, "I think the information is in your positronic lobes, but it's corrupted, by the plasma blast. But, until you have a name, and your memories, I think I'll call you X, after the X-factor, because these Mavericks didn't see you comming. We owe you our lives by the way." He said. We began walking, after Deca went through the pile, taking what power modules she could. "So what's a Maverick?" "A number of years ago, Reploids all around the world began to reject commands, and several killings occured. I was smart enough to see the trend, and set a few reploids aside, inactive ones mind you, and I set the only active reploid I had into into static mode. It seemed the virus only transferred during the update cycles while reploids were in dynamic mode." They got to a destroyed vehical. "Well, I suppose I should have expected this." Cain said, stating the obvious.

I looked at the vehicle, scanning it to see if it was still functional. Though the overall surface was heavily damaged, the structual stability was sound, and only one unit was actually damaged. They'd simply shot at it, until it was suitably damaged. Turning my long range targeting computer on, I activated different parts of my function code into a new program. It was strange, like I'd been able to do this since I'd been constructed, but it felt right. The scanner on my helmet activated, and scanned the surrounding area in backround radiation, and found a vehical behind the wall that had an undamaged part inside of it, though it was heavily damaged else where. The mavericks had been lucky to hit that part in the hover car in the first place.

Deca started to say, "I have a part in my design that can stand in for the frequency unit, so I'll just ride in the--" "No need for that," I said, walking a few hundred yards over a ridge. I reached into the gnarled reckage, and ripped the part out. The reckage kind of tried to follow it. I suddenly realized that I was _really_ strong. After I put the part down, I picked up the reckage, like it was only 200 kilos, but it must have weighed more, according to my sensors, almost a ton. I put it down, and brought the part back. I installed it without speaking, the shock of my power overwhelming me.

Deca drove us at high speed, weaving through wreckage and cover so skillfully that I wasn't sure I would have detected them, had I been trying. I set myself into static mode, before my update cycles ran, avoiding infection with the virus; If I was this strong with out trying, how strong would I be, with a virus pushing my system to the limit. Deca spoke, when it was apparently safe to do so, "So, what's your original design function? I've never seen a robot do both mechanics and combat well."

Search: Purpose

RETURN: To protect the public from robotic threats, general catastrophies, and to preserve the serenity of the current world.

I looked at the world around me, at the post apocalyptic scenery around me, and the dead human's my ocular sensors could see, and I ammended that file. "To restore the serenity of the past world, a world where reploids and humans could live in harmony." But this still wasn't the answer to the question she had asked.

Search: Functionality

RETURN: Priority-Defend other righteous creatures or androids/reploids.

Secondary- Defend self.

Tertiary- Expand and Evolve.

"I'm supposed to protect people." I said, before it hit me, that I had been built for combat. I hated combat. "So, you're built for combat?" "No, I think I'm highly modified." I said, looking down at my left arm. It had a display on it, telling me how many rounds I could create. "You _think_? Reploids don't _think_. And you're definitly a reploid. Are you modified or not?" She said to me. She seemed familiar, like one of my backround processes was running really slow at recognizing her face pattern. I dismissed it though, my processors weren't that slow. "Deal with the answer. I thought I was an android, but if _you_ say so. _Androids_ think." I spat back, knocking on my helmet. That wasn't where my memory circuits were, but it was part of my programming. Dr. Cain had been listenning to our fight, and laughed out loud, almost hysterically.

"I like you, X. You've got _attitude_, and it's good to see a reploid displaying that trait, _without_ trying to kill me." He laughed again. I liked his laugh, it was so familiar, and it sounded like it came from a bright place. "Anyway, we're members of an organization called the Maverick Hunters. We've been coming out here to find and recruit what looks to be a custom Reploid. It seems he was built by one Dr. W, though the records on him are scarce, we don't even know his full _last _name."

"Never heard of him. Is he still alive?" "No, unfortunatley, or he might have the reploid's override code, and there in we could be sure to recruit him." Cain said, like it was nothing. "Dr. Cain, if you had my override code, would you make me join your organization?" I asked, knowing that I didn't trust this human half as far as I could throw him. "Yes, if I had to. You have to understand that I don't have time to be idealistic. After the Mavericks are gone and peace has been restored, I hope to never use an override code, and I hope I don't have to use one before than either, but if the situation requires it, I will use it, no hesitation." He said.

That little speech told me a little about his character. I knew that he wouldn't do it unless he had to, just like me, destroying those reploids.

"So tell me more about these Maverick Hunters." I asked, needing some records, to know my choices. "Just like it sounds; we hunt Mavericks, trying to cut them off at their source. I was the founder, all those years ago, but we're fighting a losing battle. They've started to manufacture new troops, and we're lagging behind, with hand assembled ones. At this rate, we'll be completely out numberred in a matter of months." He said, with a grim contrast to his laughter. "I'll join the Hunters, Dr. Cain. If only to find out more about myself. If I'm out in the field, I have a chance of finding something from my past, maybe even records of my manufacture." "I may be able to help you with that, if I can do a thorough scan, and try to match your schematics to known designs. I'm sort of afraid that you may be a custom model, because I've never seen a design like yours."

We eventually arrived at a big wall, that had more battle scars than a several gangsters that were contained in my historical files. We turned and followed it, as Deca suddenly increased speed. The entire scene abubtly erupted into a battle scene. Barrages of Ionic cannon fire exploded just behind us, and the hover-car started to go tail over front, but Deca reduced the engine speed, and increased the forward hover thrusters, something skillful that I had thought of at the same time, and evenned us out. We rode the shockwave for a couple of seconds, then she turned the engine on overload and boosted us even faster. Dr. Cain had ducked from the ionic shell, and I was fine, adapting to the momentum changes rather well, and bracing myself. I looked away from the wall, and saw a single reploid leading the assault. I activated my weapon systems, even if they weren't lethal at this range, I could still scan them for info. Scanners focused into a narrow beam, checking inferred. Back round radiation was just to corrupted right now to use, though it was faster and more thorough; the power sources were warping it too much.

My eyes zoomed in on the 'general' reploid. It had a vertical slat in it's helmet, with a cannon on it's shoulder. It must have either been new, or a custom model, because I couldn't match it to anything in my database. We dodged another well placed Ion shell, but it was even closer this time, and I was almost thrown out, and Dr. Cain went into the air. I reached up and caught him by the cane he was so attached to. I quickly pulled him in, before the backwave dragged him from my grasp. I caught his arm just as the backwave yanked him, and I was able to keep him from falling out on to the ground wizzing by. "HOLD HER STEADY! I'M GOING TO TRY SOMETHING!" I yelled at Deca. "WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO!" She yelled back, as I braced myself. I charged my overload switch, aiming for the 'general' that was telling the cannon where to shoot. I had projected that the next one would hit us, we just weren't fast enough or meneuverable enough.

I had to time this right, because of how fast I was going, and the speed of the shells. I had to tell exactly when they would fire, down to the millisecond. That last two shots had been 1.74 min apart. It was not yet past that time, so I had to project the time they would fire. Even if they had the same firing time, I had to account for light movement.

...RETURN: A723EFF2 BCD3

I fired the blast, and it travelled toward it's goal. It was barely within range, and it shouldn't work, but if it didn't, we were all slag anyway.

I watched as the cannon showed it's round's glow through the barrel, perfectly on time. My shot was no longer visible, over such a distance, but that meant that they could see it. The general was panicing, and using some form propolsion built into his bipedal units, put some distance between him and the cannon. The Ion shell fired out of the barrel, and exploded right at the end of the barrel. The explosion was immense as the other rounds caught and exploded simultaneously.

"PUT US AGAINST THE--" "I KNOW! I KNOW!" Deca screamed, as she rammed the top of the vehicle into the wall, as I held Cain to the seat, my back scraping the wall and sending sparks flying as I left gouges in the metal. The shockwave hit the car, and the bottom bent toward the wall as it sqashed it against the wall like fresh green playdo. It was still working, but it was more of a flying oreo now. Deca flipped the car over and we arrived at the gate through an uninteresting, but gusty, trip to the massive gate.

We were allowed inside, and I was instantly pryed off the doctor. I twisted the wrist of the reploid that was pulling me off of him, and had his arm behind him before he realized it. "Don't try to restrain me, friend." I said, and released him. Dr. Cain got up, dusted himself off, and picked up his cane. "Do as he says. He's here of his own will, and he can leave as well. Not to mention that he just saved us all." He said calmly. I admired how calm he was, how cool and reserved he was. He must have nerves of silicon, or some other efficient substance. I, on the other circuit, was quite shaken, and I just didn't want to be touched.

"Is this the reploid that was in the Debris Fields? The one you were trying to recruit?" A reploid, looking to be a litigation model, asked, righting down things on a datapad. "No, Dodeca. This is X, until further notice, and we found him. Please, get him 'accomodations' and inform him of the period he is now in. Oh! and don't forget to update as much of his teck as you can, with out causing a system error. After your done, send him to me. I have to repair my scanner before..." He said as he walked away.

He may have had silicon nerves, but his mind seemed to have a few bolts loose. "Don't worry, X, he always get's like this in the base. He's just relaxing, letting out a stream of conciousness. Please follow me." Dodeca, said, waving me on. Deca accompanied me. "So Sis, how go the repairs to my buster?" "Wait! Wait a second! You two are sisters?" I said, shocked. I remembered something like that, but it was as fleeting as my recognition routines. "Yes, I'm 12, and she's #10. She may be programmed and outfitted for combat, but her basic structure is exactly like my own. Deca, your buster hasn't been a priority of late, so it's still on the mechanic's list. We have to fortify the base again, while we've got the spare time." She did this all while walking, and writing in perfect handwriting on her datapad; in cursive. It was a common font, but from my records, I hadn't seen a reploid able to recreate it on demand. Processors must have come a few generations since I'd been stored.

"X, you're now in the twenty-second century. The Mavericks appeared, in large quantities, in the year 2189. We are toward the end of our current century we've lost count of the years. When another fifty years pass, we're going to start saying twenty-third century. Our current defenses are sufficient, but not for long. Our field generators all seem die on the first shell, but we keep them anyway, because surviving one shot is better than not," She continued, "We've been scavanging all of the spare parts we can, to get the most advantage we can afford. We're at a severe disadvantage with personelle, because we can't make parts. We either have to rip parts from the srapped, or make new ones from scratch."

Almost in time with her speach, we passed by a couple piles of scrapped reploids, all half dismantled, and a row of 6 tables or more, with reploids getting refitted. I was no stranger to seeing my own kind in pieces, but this was the closest to disgusted I'd come to. "For what it's worth, I hope you don't end up in the heap." Dodeca said, "We went out of that room and showed up in a lab. " Please expose your cETnA port, and lay on the table." She said.

Search Hardware: cETnA port.

RETURN: Port not recognized

"I don't have one." I said. Dodeca laughed, and said, "No,hahahaa, really. Expose the port." I stared at her blankly, I didn't even know what cETnA stood for, let alone what it's purpose was. "C'mon, its not like I'm going to rip it out." "I told you, I don't have one. The only _port_ I've got is a power port, and it takes lot of work to get to it." I repeated. "Every Reploid in the last century has a cETnA port. You must be in the first generation, when Reploids were custom made. What is your armor made of?"

"Liquid Nitrogen treated Titanium with Lead shells covering my essential systems, and an under coating of Silicon on the inner surface of my body, to protect against energy discharge. I'm immune to EM pulse, to an extent, and my helmet is made of a polymerized form of Aluminum, which is hard to come by, and I have polymerized Titanium for my human like parts." I concluded, reading off the list that appeared in my head. "Polymerized titanium is standard still, because it loses it's rigidity and retains quite a bit of stability, but Polymerized Aluminum has only been found in Military grade hardware." Dodeca said as she pulled some paper records from a top shelf. Her thick ankles extended and she reached the records while standing on her metalic toes. She flipped through them slowly, taking care not to rip the pages of ancient data. "We've been trying to melt some of that stuff off of an empty capsule we found. Maybe you can interface with it's systems, with your old style OS." "Oh, and one thing, he _says_ he's an android, not a reploid. That's probably why he doesn't have any ports: Didn't they get their info through Optical flashes?" Deca said, grabbing a tool, and unscrewing her armor on her arm. It looked like it had a scorch mark from the inside.

We left Deca, who I'd come to actually like, behind and went to the "Recovery Room" where they took stuff apart and made stuff that worked. A mechanic bot with a swiss army knife for a and wave hello when we enterred. A capsule was sitting vertically, with a bot with a saw arm running a circular blade on one spot. The sound was loud, so we didn't say any think until he was finished. He pulled the blade away after a moment, all of the teeth on it were gone, and the edge was sandes smooth. "Diamonds don't cut it either Mick. I don't think that this is gonna work, " the saw-bot said, and disengaged the arm, letting it drop to the floor, in frustration. He walked of lopsided over to another project. "Hey, FeBot. What 'ave ya got fer me today?" The mech-bot said to my tour-guide. "I've got a bot with a helmet that's made of that stuff," She said, pointing toward the capsule. I stroled toward it, looking for an interface. "Really? I haven't seen anything that can break it, bend it, cut it or mark on it. It's kinda pissin' me off!" Mick said behind me. As I got with in a meter, the power clicked on, with a slow groan as the gears broke their rust lock ups. The two reploids behind me fell silent, as a hologram formed with in the capsule.

It was of an old, plump old man, who looked like a grandfatherly figure. "Hello, Megaman. By the time you find this capsule, I will likely be dead, or dying. I've had my life extended a little, and I've been able to manufacture some of the Polyminum I used in your construction, and I made these capsules. I've had to hide all but this one, because I fear the robots that Wiley built, before he was killed by that reploid he created. I have limited information on him, but he seems to have been infected with some virus, probably intended to remain dormant until he triggered it, but he wasn't always the genuis he claimed to be. Step into this capsule, and Polyminum will imported through your powerport, and modify your body, to beable to accept upgrades from the other capsules. I intentionally made this one easy enough to find, and activate. The others will only activate when you approach within a half meter, opposed to this ones full meter.

"In the unlikely event that your personality has been reset, Here is your release code, so that you can accept new information, outside of dynamic mode." There was screach of tones and pulses, and I felt a cell-block dissapate in my circuits. "You are not to enter Dynamic mode for any reason, even to protect a human. Do you understand? The Virus is codenamed Sigma, by Wiley. He was able to send me a transmission with his dying breath, and that is all the information I have for you Megaman. Please, if you awaken to find the world as I fear it will be without you, I implore you to save it."

The hologram turned off. "So I'm called 'Megaman.' I still like X though..." I said. "Dodeca? Designate me Megaman X. If this thing malfunctions, I want Deca to have my buster." I said, and jumped onto the platform. Dodeca and Mick both bolted for me, but it was too late. I knew the risks, and the possible doom I had jumped into head first, but I knew that voice, even with no memory of it. I trusted that old man.

The moment my bi-pedal units hit the panel, a shield surrounded the the platform, and I felt the silicon on my inner shell charge, and focus in my chest, where my power port was. I felt something materalize on it, and the energy drained to that location. The light that surrounded me, faded away and the shield shut down. The capsule fell apart, and I rushed out of it. Stepping and almost stumbling out. "How insane ARE YOU! ARE YOU INFECTED OR SOMETHING YOU PIECE OF SCRAP!" Dodeca yelled at me.

"I trust that human. I don't know why, but I do. And what ever he did, he did it correctly, because my system has been modified. I think you'll have better luck using the metal--" A voice came from the pile, as a whisper. "Farewell, Rock." I waited for something else, though I knew those were the final words. "...now." I finished. I knew that name. Picking myself up, I did a minor systems check, and found that the new 'adapter' allowed the energy that had flowed through my inner silicon shell to be converted, on a more massive scale, into objects, and to attach itself to my exterior.

It was a little more advanced than I could understand completely, but the programming in it told me as much. It was just the surface text file meant for me to find. I delved a little deeper, and found an encrypted file, that seemed to decrypt itself on an event. I didn't mess with it, because I could corrupt an already corrupted file that would have fixed itself.

"What were you thinking X! You could have been infected! Or you could have been deleted!" Dodeca screamed. Mick looked at me for a moment, and chuckled. "I like ya kid. Yer jus' what we need around here. If ya need a tune-up, lemme know." He said, and then walked away, to attend to another job. Dodeca gave him a dirty look, before turning to me. I saw my reflection in her lenses, and I realized I had a silly dumb smile on my face. I immediately put that facial expression away for later. "Sorry, but told you, I know that human. I'm not sure who he is or what he did, but I trust him." She looked into my lenses, and she seemed to soften a little, as she saw my resolve. "...Fine, but I want to test these capsules before you step in them; time didn't exactly give him a helping hand. You heard how that thing was rusted!" She said, and walked away. I found a map, and went to Cain's Lab.

I walked in, just as he put the final piece in a device about as large as my forearm. He said, "Oh X, I was just about to send for you. You have good timing. Did Dodeca find out anything about your past?" Cain said, as he lead me over to a table and had me lay down on it. "Yeah, it was strange! I activated a pod made of polymerized Aluminum, and it had a holo-recording on it. It was of an old human, I think I knew him, though!" I said like a confused human child. I was happy to have a lead to go on, let alone someone who actually knew my design well enough to modify it, but this was extremely abnormal.

"Oh well, this'll settle any real doubts about your make and model." Cain pulled a lever, and I was thrust under a scanner. Dr. Cain hobbled over to the controls, and began punching in keys. My exterior began heating up, uncomfortably. "Hey! What are you doing!" I asked, suddenly suspicious. "I'm testing your Isotope accumulation. If it's low, like I think it will be, you'll have been in an extremely small amount of battle. If I'm wrong, then you'll either have been in heavy battle, or extremely old." I saw the reading on the screen extend to the top of the screen I could identify, and then a new screen lit up, and it kept extending, and then again, and again. It stopped at four screens full, when the smoothness on the wall stopped. Then the next columb of screens began, and it extended another two screens. "That was almost off the scale!" Cain said, after a few moments of awkward silence. "You must be as old as I am, and been fighting this war for longer than I've been alive, if this is an accurate reading! Either that, or been in a lot of major combat before it began!" Cain began rapidly tapping on the control panel, and all I could do was watch as my outer skin cooled. I felt a paper thin thread feeling of taughtness run from my head and down into my bipedal units.

"And your design! Your missing so much basic hardware, and you've got Android parts in their place!" He rushed over to me, and asked emphatically, "Do you know what that means?" I looked at him, waiting for an answer. I had already tried to find an answer, but it was a leap that my logic systems couldn't make, not with out some major program repair. I answered, after a few extremeley quiet moments, "No."

"It means that you were the first! You were the first reploid, before refinements were made to the design!" exploded from his mouth, and then he gasped. "Computer, delete the last two minutes of audio, then run data scrubbing." he commanded at noone in paticular, and I heard a couple of beeps showing that the computer had destroyed the file to it's own satisfaction. He looked right at me, in my eyes. "Tell noone. If anyone finds out, especially the Mavericks, you'll be targeted for destruction at all costs. You were the first, and so you have a lot of raw power that other reploids simply cannot aquire, because of inhibitors made necessary by design." He whispered. I instantly got up, and and commited the little one-sided conversation to my backup memory. It was hard for even me to access it there, and it would be safe from discovery by a passing data sweep if I got captured.

"I understand, Doctor. Just get me a fresh power pack, and I'll finish this war. If these 'bots were based on my design, then I kinda started this fight. I'm going to stop this fighting, so that Reploids and Humans can live together."

SetDirective: "To end the fighting between reploids and humans, and to protect the peace after this ensues."

RETURN: Directive Change Granted


	2. Mission: 01

Mission01- Coolant Run

Mission01- Coolant Run

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that Capcom owns. Demons nest in their bones, and dead men destroy their cookies. Ha. Ha. Right.

The tune up fixed my hand, though now it was off-white. The technician-bot set up a corde to charge me.

"Your hardware is so old, that I had to actually custom make a plug for you, you know!" he complained as I sat there. Deca was standing there the whole time, next to the table. I wasn't trying to move, but I suspected I could if I wished, now that I was getting charged. I was still scuffed and dented all over. That damned war-machine was pretty damned good.

"Is he going to be okay?" Deca asked the technician. I spoke up, "Hey, I'm right here you know!" I tried to get out more, but Mick spoke as if I weren't there.

"He just needs a charge. His old cell was charged, and its just fine for working around the base. I'll work on a quick charge system later, but that should do for now." His arm was now the standard hand, a little more scuffed than I was at the moment, but it seemed to function just fine. "How long?" Deca asked.

I couldn't get up; there was a cable coming out of my chest. I didn't want to risk a power-surge by detaching it too quickly. So, I just sat there, frustrated that I couldn't get their attention. They were being rude, even among bots this was seriously against protocol, as far as I knew.

"Maybe ten minutes. And yes, I knew you were there, X," he said to me, apologizing. "I'm just doing my report. Now that it's finished, I'll get to work on your buster," he said.

I looked at him like his sprockets had flown off. "Do you have a short circuit? My buster is just fine," I snapped.

"No it's not!" he snapped right back, as he sat down next to my right arm, "It's wasting more energy than a screen door on a submarine!"

He pulled off my armor plate without preamble and began turning screws and connecting wires. A sensation ran up my arm. I didn't like it. It…hurt. It felt like what humans describe as pain. I tried to pull my arm back, but his scuffed arm clamped down on my elbow, dropping my attempt to escape in one fell swoop. I had to grit my teeth as he poked around in a place I didn't think he should.

After what seemed like an eternity, the pain stopped. I looked at the plate as it was returned. "There, now you should be able to use that overload thing you like so damned much," Mick said as he concluded his modifications.

"How did you know I…huff…used overload?" I asked. He laughed a little. "It's obvious, if you look at the wire damage," he said, holding up some burnt wire-ends. I looked over to see that Deca was still standing there. She looked like she wanted to cry, even though I knew she had no valves for it. What was going on? Reploids don't feel emotion…do they? I knew I did, but how could a reploid. What data I could access suggested that they were all war-machines.

I felt a pang of something I couldn't describe…it was like pain, but I wasn't damaged at all. Why did I feel this…feeling every time I remember stuff about reploids? Why? What is this…feeling?

"Hey!" I heard Mick, jarring me out of my concentration. It was strange, but I came back to reality. "Okay. This is my advice, android: don't push yourself unless you absolutely have to. The report I made was wrong," he whispered. "You were pretty banged up, total refit of your hand servos. That hand will be a bit stronger, because your previous ones were old Dx's, where as I put in Gd-12's Feel free ta do watch ya have to do, but don't forget to weigh the consequences. If you go beyond warranty limits, even I, the master engineer 'ploid, won't be able to fix you!" he said the last part in jest, but the look in his camera's told me he was serious. He pulled out the cord and closed my open chest cavity.

I hopped off of the table, and walked with Deca to her 'quarters.' As we walked, she told me of the history that had happened in my absence, since I'd apparently been gone for the last fifty years; even if I didn't remember it.

"First, the virus spread, according to records we recovered. We don't know the original source, but we know that it spread from one source. The "Sigma" virus infected almost 70 of all reploids, before it decided to strike. Nearly 60 of the human population was killed that day…" she said. She paused, seeming to want to cry again. I saw the expression on her face. Titanium or not; she was in some kind of pain. "And my Mono…he was destroyed that day as well. Killed by Mavericks, before we even called them that.," she said. She turned, and looked at me, and our eyes met. "You remind me of him, battle bot that he was. I though he would always…" she stuttered for a moment, and then, she…she _hugged_ me.

Among droids, hugging is akin to kissing in human standards. She was not only kissing me, she was practically declaring me as her own. Because we don't reproduce by the organic way, usually we didn't pair off. Maybe that had changed with reploid design, but this was still weird for me. And a little uncomfortable.

But I didn't want to give her a bad impression, but…

A zap went over my positronic brain, that same old pain I'd been feeling so much recently. What was going on? Why! WHY SLAG IT! Why did I have to feel this pain?

I hugged her back, and then pushed her out of our embrace. She looked a little hurt, but my offer of a hold on my elbow wasn't denied. "Is it…too soon?" she asked, as we walked. I nodded, "I don't know, but when I look at you, I feel I'm forgetting something, someone. I just…I've-"

I was interrupted by Cain who said, "You've got a mission! Get the coolent, don't get yourself scrapped, save humanity, all that jazz." He shoved a data cartridge in my face and kept walking. Jerk.

I looked down at the cartridge, and back after him. Now I glanced between the cartridge and the bot at my side. "I've…gotta go." I tried to say something, but my will faltered when it came to saying something. What was going on? Why did I feel this way? Why did I 'feel' at all?

I came to the transport room, got a battery refit, and took the plunge.

I arrived in a place that was frozen over. Wait, wasn't I just in a near tropical setting? Say, 35.2C ? I couldn't imagine how they got to where they could reach the poles…so…

Run TEMPSTABLIZER6-2.EXE

I decided it was a good time to actually read my briefing. I looked at the cartridge, and clicked the button on it. It burst into millisecond long flashes of light at different parts of the spectrum. I read the data quickly, not bothering to understand it until I had it all.

When it was done, in those few moments, I began to actually understand it. "Objectives: Seal the coolant line

Secure the pump-station

Current Situation: Coolant is leaking; since it is a gaseous one, it has influenced the weather. It is currently gathering in a cloud, the cool convection of the leak itself keeping it in its present location.

Hazards: Wind, Ice, and Mavericks.

Maverick Types:

Snow clearing bots (Animal-Bunny)

Emergency Suit Op's (Operate Suits)

Arial Recon/Mine-Setter (Insectoid)

Arial Distraction (Mammal-Bat)

Tower/Turret (Avian-Ostrich)

Arial-Mace (Mech-Chopper)

Recreational-Snow (Mech-Stationary-Single Arm)

Arial Recon/Explosive(Insectoid)

Recon: Suggests that a General is currently supervising the repair of it as well. It is an Unkown Reploid Design. We believe that he was manufactured for this purpose. His abilities and specs should conform to arctic-tactical archetypes, though we are unsure as to the method of their design. Good luck, and Light's Speed."

Okay, so I've got to clear out the enemies and fix the leak. I can do that. But if they didn't know the stats on the general…

If you have a human general, with human troops, taking out all of his troops usually renders them helpless. Not with a reploid general and army. Usually a General is not just designed to be smart, but also to be an effective weapon. And he was designed for just this mission; he should be freaking perfect for it.

So, he'll probably be faster, stronger, and have a better strategy than me. And my suicide check list is complete. Yay. I'm so ecstatic, my circuits are frying.

And then there was Deca. She'd probably be whining about how she couldn't use a blaster, let alone a buster for herself.

Well, gotta go secure the pump-station. The primary goal may be the line, but I wasn't stupid. I had to have at least a defensible position before I began fixing the line at all, or I'd just end up giving the enemy a free coolant-line.

I started walking. The dampening field was quite a bit stronger here; and the wind was beginning to dry up my seals. I'd have to get those fixed.

I walked for miles, hoping that the chill didn't freeze my systems before the mavericks did. My inferred sensor registered a faint signal. I heard a little buzzing…SLAG!

I dived down into the snow, rolling as best as I could, trying to cover my reflective surfaces. I thanked the Programmers that I hadn't had the scarring on my back buffed out; it would hold enough snow to make me look like a wreck.

SetTemperature(-20);

…

Temperature reduced.

I dug myself into the snow bank as best I could, and hoped that I wouldn't be noticed.

I heard the buzzing get louder. It rose in volume, until I could feel wind across my heat vents on my back. It just hung there for a while. Slag! The standard procedure was to conduct an intensive scan! Wait! I had an idea.

StandbyMode(30000);

…

…

…

Rebooting System…

System restored.

When I came to, the buzzing was fading away. I waited until it fell off my inferred to confirm visually. The trick had worked. By setting my systems into standby, even for just thirty seconds, my readings had been just too low to detect. And I didn't know if it was going to work. I felt like draining _my_ coolants after that stunt.

SetTemperature(+22);

…

Teperature increased.

"Deca, when I get back, I swear I'm gonna make you tell me why you guys send me alone on these damned missions!" I cursed. I dragged myself out of the snow before the moisture fried something.

I managed to avoid detection a little longer, and made good time to the factory. I looked at the open expanse that guaranteed detection if I went in. There was a tall ostrich-bot standing watch, eyes scanning the entire horizon. Wait…scanning one direction at a time….that meant that there was a time of weakness.

The head didn't orbit a full circle, instead favoring to move back and forth between one wall and the other. I studied that motion. I calculated the full turn, and the visibility cone that I had to avoid.

It took the head almost three minutes to move from one wall to the other. So if I ran along a wall until the head came back, I should have five minutes to get past it.

I repositioned myself next to the pipe-ridden structure, and waited. The eyes turned closer and closer toward me. I ducked below a piece of debris and dropped my temperature again. I counted to twenty seconds, and peeked my head out of my hiding place, just enough to spy the bird. I saw it turning away, not looking at me.

FULL POWER!

I sprinted from the hiding place a full seventy feet. The head hit the other wall. I pushed harder, using the thrusters on the tops of my pedals to get better traction.

The head kept turning.

I wasn't going to make it; just too much distance for my outmoded hardware. Why didn't I do the calculation before?!

In a desperation move, I kicked my feet out in front of me, and slid on my pocked back down the icy wall. I slid right under the legs. I grabbed something to stop myself and froze. I looked back out the doorway…

The bird was unchanged. Just scanning. I moved silently toward the inner reaches of my objective.

The station was a large structure, and there was far too much ground to make it economical to have a full contingent of guards. So, the place was mostly empty, with a few guards that were easy enough to spot.

The echoing place made my circuits wimper. The icicles hanging there looked like they were spikes of some garbage disposal from the slag-heap, coming for me.

I was a little on edge as I walked in that first hallway. So much that I jumped when I saw a wheel drone, like the ones I'd seen were standard Mavericks in the manual, rolling toward me on patrol. I jumped to the side, hiding behind a support columb. I charged my weapon; I'd have to take him out in one shot.

These things were kamakazi runners. They ran right into you, and exploded.

He rolled closer. I kept myself in cover as much as I could. This shot had to hit his detonation coil, or the explosion would alert the entire complex. There was probably a small army in here, that was just powered down and waiting to get turned on and scrap my chasse.

I took aim. He came closer. I double checked my aim. He rolled closer. I fired.

BOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!

I took off running past the black mark on the floor. Damn it! I had just made this a whole lot harder.

I ran as fast as I could down the complex's route map in my mind. I had almost another three hundred feet of running before I could expect to meet the general. If I took him out, I'd be in a better position to..

BAT!

I ducked and slid on the ice. The ground slide back behind me and I nearly fell into a deep pit. What in circuits? I reached back and broke my damaged hand through the ice, and grabbed onto linoleum. I hit the back of the crevasse hard. My eyes pointed in the wrong directions; I felt dizzy. I waited for my cameras to realign.

I looked to the right and left, and found a huge crack in the earth. What was going on? Why hadn't the Mavericks prevented this?

I let the questions die in my mind. They'd have to wait.

I pulled myself up, only to see a cloud of bat-bots floating toward me, knives hanging in their claws. Hatred gleaned in their opticals. A kind of hatred I'd never seen.

I aimed and fired, blowing one out of the sky. Another, another. They just kept coming.

I looked to the ceiling…and found my salvation. I threw up my buster and fired at them. I turned my head down.

My armor wouldn't get hurt by falling ice shards this size. But certain things flying in the air had bigger problems than armor. Like maintaining flight.

The falling shards collided with their wings, sending them all to the ground. I took aim, and finished them off.

After dragging myself back up onto the floor, I backed up a bit. I ran, and jumped the gap. I hit the ground, skidded a little, and kept running.

I kept going until I came to an obstacle not so easy to circumvent. There was a wall there. I checked my map, and there shouldn't be a wall there.

I checked my map again. There _shouldn't _be a wall here.

But there it was, in all of its frozen glory. I looked up in frustration…and found my salvation once again. There was a gap in the ceiling, to another level. My map said there was a route on the ground floor to the general, but that didn't seem to be working anymore.

When in doubt, 'innovate, extrapolate and decimate.'

Where did I hear that? Anyway, it sounded good.

I jumped up, caught the edge, and pulled myself up. When I finally got my feet under me, a wheel drone dropped from the ceiling.

I didn't have enough time or the position to doge it.

It hit me, and sent me down onto the floor once again. I rolled to the side and spit out some coolant. That can't be good.

I shoved myself up, and noticed that my bi-pedal units were a little shaky. I didn't dare use the thrusters now; they'd probably break my legs off.

I resolved to myself that I'd have to get on without them; but I couldn't run anymore. I'd have to elude the bots or destroy them.

Destroying all just didn't sit right with me somehow. I know I shouldn't feel anything for them; I'm a combat android, and their my enemy. But…I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

So, I was going to have to hide and get by them without getting caught. I climbed another platform, and found a fairly level spot. I heard a thruster fire.

I jumped to the side; a spike threw sparks as it drew across my shoulder's armor. It was a flying bot; something that didn't look like any kind of animal. It wasn't an infected maverick; it was a built combat drone.

The think hung in the air, staring at me; analyzing. I couldn't let it do that; if they got detailed scans, they'd be able to find the flaws in my design, weakpoints in my armor! I was already out-moded.

I aimed and fired. The thing zoomed out of the way and came in for another dive. I dropped to my back and fired my thrusters.

Well, I dropped to my back anyway. I rolled out of the way as the damned thing slammed into the ice and scraped the flooring beneath. I couldn't keep dodging like this; I was getting my can kicked by a _drone_. Without my manuveuring thrusters, I was boned. I got on my feet and took off toward a corner of the warehouse. If I could limit its movement, I could knock it out of the sky.

I heard the thrusters again. I tried to jump, but one of my legs gave out. The drone zoomed out from under me as I fell to the ground hard. My leg curled up…what was this paralyzing feeling?

I couldn't move; I couldn't run. Move damn you! MOVE BODY!

I rolled to the left just as the thing came for me; it scraped my back, but I avoided most of the damage. This thing was getting better at its job.

I saw a light flicker in the dark; an electronic presence. I scanned; that wasn't broken yet.

I felt, compelled to move over to it. I started crawling over; another feeling; what was it. It was like lightning and fire running up my casing; my mouth was grinding. It was pain. The pain from my damaged leg.

I looked up, and saw the drone readying for another diving run. It wasn't going to miss this time; I didn't have anything to hide behind; and it knew I could only roll fast enough in one direction; it could project where I was going to be.

I felt my hand hit the base of the old electronic device.

I pulled myself in, just as the drone dived.

I began floating; probably the device activated. I saw Dr. Light in my ocular units. The video began to talk; but it soon became corrupted and garbled.

It was a capsule! It was a left by Light! I had a chance! I could-

The drone drove a spike through my chest-plate. I turned and it flew off; but the damage was done. I couldn't go more than ten minutes with a hole in my chest. I could already feel the coolent freezing my hardware.

I looked down; and my legs had changed color. They felt…good. Like new. The infernal helicopter came in for another attack, and I stepped to the side. I moved almost ten feet in a fraction of a second, and it missed by a mile.

"Wow." I said out loud.

I aimed and shot while it wasn't looking; the bot blew up.

I picked up one of the shards of metal, and held it over my chest. It might buy me a few more minutes of functionality. These legs were amazing, but they had come a little too late. I looked up, and saw several bots coming toward me; in construction lifters. There must have been ten of them, at least. I couldn't fight one, let alone the number they brought.

I had an inspiration…looking down at my legs.

I looked up, and shot a hole in the roof. I jumped up easily; and landed on top. I ran as fast as I could forward. If I didn't get past them, then they'd just come onto the roof, and I'd be caught either way.

I heard a crash behind me; almost thirty feet behind me. How did I get that far ahead? I thanked Light silently; he'd just saved my can twice in less than a minute.

I looked down at my chest; I was leaking lubricant and coolent too; I was going to start overheating if I didn't finish this quickly. I saw the main tower of the complex, and ran toward it. A couple of themepark bots stood guard, but a couple shots disabled them.

I set my blaster on overload; the faster I finish the general, the faster I could get transported out of here. I needed major repairs.

I kicked the door open…and no one was there. Something hit the back of my head; and shards of ice were scattered across the floor. I rolled as I fell, and saw…something strange.

It was a penguin…in the air. It was a flightless bird, in the air. It sucked in some air, and spat another blob of ice. I shot my overloaded blast at it, and they canceled out.

I skidded and got to my feet, just as the penguin landed. "My my, so they send the outdated hardware. You rebels; you don't realize that you never had a chance," the penguin said. It started walking toward me; it was short. But it was wearing stylish winter-wear. A cap and everything a human might need; probably to arm itself against its own power and the environment here.

I felt my head's scanner begin to do what it did best. The power output of it's battery was amazing; I could even detect the wire readout. The reploid was so well made that it could probably run circles around me with it's processor alone.

I started charging another shot. "You'll never get any of the territory we've taken back, rebel, and you can't hold what terf you've got; strategically out matched and outnumbered," it said.

I aimed a shot. The penguin jumped, and fired two more pieces of ice. I jumped at the wall behind me.

And I landed on it with my feet, and pushed off. The penguin followed me with it's eyes; and gawked as I flew above it. I fired my blast and nailed it in its smug face.

It fell down to the ground, and landed on its feet. I landed as well, my other arm still holding the piece of metal there. I turned to see the penguin sliding at me like a battering ram over the ice. I jumped again; dodging. He slammed into the wall, and turned to do it again. I fired a few shots. A couple ricocheted, but one landed on it's shoulder.

The bot slid under me, and I craned my head to see my enemy jump off the wall too. I aimed, but it flew past me before I could fire a shot.

I looked up as it pulled a lever in the ceiling. The temperature dropped 40 degrees in a fraction of a second. I could feel my seals drying up; and after that my hardware would break down.

Crap; he'd seen my one weakness and used it perfectly. I aimed and fired as he hung on the lever.

The shot took out one of his legs; and he fell to the ground.

I landed and skidded into a wall. I breathed out, and the moister from my vents crystallized. If I didn't finish it in the next thirty seconds; I was scrap.

The penguin rolled over, and launched at me. I jumped up; just enough to let him sail under me.

I reached out; and my hand touched his head. A scan permeated his entire weapon system.

I felt my arm reconfigure.

It turned and fired a block of ice. I fired a block of ice; the result was an explosion of shards. It happened right in the general's face; the force of the blast thrust sharp shard after shard into the armor and circuitry. They bounced harmlessly off my armor. "As it gets colder, my armor gets stronger," I said, lying. The penguin's beak dropped open in shock. "We resistance fighters, we'll take back this world, and live in harmony with the humans," I growled. Then the penguin's head rolled back and it stopped moving.

I started walking out. My radio started getting a signal. "X! X! What's your situation; I repeat, what's your situation?!"

Ofcourse; they care about me after I've been beat to hell. "Mission Compete. You guys owe me for this one," I spat back.


End file.
